findings:significantly decreased employment probability for rtw on fixed-term contracts compared to open-ended contracts; most universities provided limited access to maternity payment for fixed-contract staff
channels:fewer included provisions in fixed-term contracts; strict policies on payments if contract ends before end of maternity leave/minimum length of rtw; long-term continuous service requirements for extended payments
direction:-1# -1 neg / 0 none / 1 pos
significance:2# 0 nsg / 1 msg / 2 sg
notes:study on public university employers only
annotation:|
A study on the return to work ratios for high-skill women workers in public academic universities in the United Kingdom, comparing the results for those in fixed-term contract work versus those in open-ended contracts.
It finds that there is a significantly decreased return to work probability for those working under fixed-term contracts, and most universities providing policies with more limited access to maternity payment for fixed-contract staff.
This is possibly due to provisions in the policies implicitly working against utilization under fixed-terms:
there are strict policies on payments if a contract ends before the maternity leave period is over, and obligations on repayments if not staying in the position long enough after rtw.
Additionally, most policies require long-term continuous service before qualifying for enhanced payments in the maternity policies.
There is high internal heterogeneity between the univserities, primarily due to the diverging maternity policy documents, only a small number of the overall dataset providing favorable conditions for fixed-term work within.
